Key facts

Type	Oxford Qualification - Part-time
Start date	Sep 2012
Subject area(s)	Creative Writing
Fees	Fees for 2012-2013 are £1,850 (EU students) and £3,500 (Non-EU students).
Application status	Applications being accepted
Application deadline	Fri 15 June 2012
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppaward@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Overview

Since its inception in 1998, the Diploma - Oxford University’s only Undergraduate course in Creative Writing - has offered significant opportunities for students to explore and develop their individual writerly skills. Providing two years of intensive part-time study and more than 200 contact hours, the Diploma encourages sustained involvement in a wide range of literary projects. An ethos of breadth and experiment is fostered by concentration on four major categories of literary activity: prose, poetry, drama and analytical reading. At the same time, there is scope for specialization in areas of each student’s individual choice.

The stimulation of group discussion is balanced and augmented by regular one-to-one contact between tutors and students. These individual tutorials, combined with a restriction of student numbers in each year to around seventeen, ensure each student has the opportunity to explore and develop his or her own particular writerly talents.

For one student's experience of the course please click on our student spotlight.

For details of this year's Oxford Literary Festival please see www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/

Open Evenings

We will host an Open Evening on Tuesday, 7 February 2012 from 7:00pm-9:00pm at Rewley House where you are very welcome to visit the Department, meet the Course Director, Dr John Ballam, and other course tutors. We will be delighted to discuss the course with you in more depth and answer any queries you might have about the course and application process.

Description

What the Course Offers

The Diploma aims to foster the writing skills of all its students. The value of group activity as a catalyst for the creative imagination is one of the central tenets of the course, and there will be ample opportunity for discussion of the theory of writing – with students, course tutors, Day and Summer School tutors, speakers, and visiting readers. At the same time, the course emphasizes the importance of individual voice and vision, and there is significant provision for one-to-one in-depth discussion of each student’s work.

At the basis of skill in writing is skill in reading and the associated development of the ability to consider and express the ways in which various kinds of writing work. Students practise these skills in a supportive but rigorous environment, encouraged by tutors experienced in sharing their own insights into the creative process, and in valuing and encouraging the creative insights of everyone in the group. Deliberately geared to breadth and experiment rather than to narrow specialisation, the Diploma seeks to capitalise on each student’s unique creativity.

Publication is one aim, among many, of most writers, and past students of the Diploma have had work accepted for publication during or after the period of their involvement with the course. A significant number of those who gain the Diploma have gone on to take MAs in creative writing at universities such as East Anglia, Warwick, Middlesex and Bath Spa, and more recently, have been accepted onto Oxford University’s Master of Studies in Creative Writing: (please see www.conted.ox.ac.uk/mstcw).

A central aim of the course is that students, by the end of the two years, will have developed their creative writing skills to an appreciable degree, and will have gained a clearer perspective on their own creative abilities and the ways in which they may want to pursue them. Students who gain the Diploma should also be better equipped to make useful judgements about the work of other writers, and how it relates to their own.

Who Should Apply

Formal qualifications are not essential. Our students come from all kinds of backgrounds and have so far ranged in age from their twenties to their seventies. Some have previous experience of literary study; all show evidence of prior activity (though not necessarily of publication) as a creative writer.

We look for evidence of a high level of commitment; an awareness of literary ideas and a degree of articulacy in discussing them; and a capacity for intellectual and imaginative development. If you apply you will be asked to submit a small portfolio of your own work. Admission is selective, and will take into account the evidence of that work and the information provided at interview.

Programme details

Course Structure
The course offers a rich combination of workshop seminars (to be held on Thursday evenings, from 7.15 - 9.45pm), individual tutorials (by arrangement with tutors, twice termly, each lasting for 45 minutes), Day Schools (held on a Sunday, one each term) and a six-day Summer School (residence possible) at the end of the first year of study, in June.

Seminars
YEAR 1
The first term provides an introduction to the three main genres: prose, poetry and drama. From the outset there are opportunities to engage in practical activity and wide-ranging group discussion of aims, techniques and issues.

The second term makes a start on refining and developing analytical skills with three weeks of Reading for Writers, followed by seven weeks of close attention to the structures and approaches of prose fiction. The third term concentrates on how to address the challenges of writing creative non-fiction and stage drama.

YEAR 2
The aim of the year is to consolidate and broaden the developments in skill, confidence and analytical ability that will have accrued in Year 1. Term 4 provides in-depth concentration on short and long fiction, while term 5 focuses on advanced Reading for Writers (three weeks) and further high-level consideration of the craft of poetry. Term 6 gives students up-to-the-minute experience of how to write Broadcast Drama.

Tutorials
Tutorials offer unrivalled opportunity for focused, developmental discussion of work in process. Their one-to-one nature ensures full concentration on the strengths of each student’s work as well as on areas which may need improvement. Tutorials centre on work produced in relation to the genres studied during that term. This means that as early as Term 1 students have considerable freedom of choice to write on prose, poetry or drama (though you should expect to write on more than one category in that term).

Space for Specialisation
At the end of both years you will be given the opportunity to concentrate more extensively on your own preferred area of interest, through the production of a portfolio of around 4,000 words in the case of prose and drama, or around 200 lines of poetry. Your second-year portfolio is allocated four term weeks for concentrated attention, and is guided by a preliminary tutorial discussion of the content you are proposing, and a review tutorial on completion of the project.

Day Schools
The Day School in the first term focuses on how the activity of reading may begin to be channelled to the practising writer’s creative advantage. This prepares the way for Reading for Writers seminars in Term 2. The four Day Schools in terms 2 to 5 introduce, through visiting readers, speakers, and tutors, a wide range of voices to counterpoint and amplify insights and opinions provided by members of the Diploma’s teaching team. There are readings by, and discussions with, well-known writers from all genres, as well as related workshop sessions. The Day School in the final term focuses forward to give in-depth consideration to how the publishing world works, and how you as a writer can best operate within it.

Summer School
The Summer School is a vibrant culmination to your first year of study. Sessions for the whole group will be balanced by individual sessions which allow you to focus on areas of your own choice. There is time set aside for your uninterrupted writing, and guidance will be given, as a group and individually, about how best to focus your efforts during the summer vacation so that you can get the most out of your second year. The Summer School provides an unparalleled opportunity to concentrate as fully as possible on living and working your craft. Although it is largely non-residential, you may book accommodation, subject to availability.

The Summer School is an integral part of the course and included in the course fee. It starts at lunchtime on Saturday 16 June and finishes at lunchtime on Friday 22 June. From Sunday, each morning begins at 9.30am and continues (except on 16 June) to 7pm, with breaks for tea/coffee and lunch. All students are expected to attend the Summer School dinner on Thursday 21 June 2012.

Calendar for Year 1: 2012 - 2013

The Thursday evening seminars will be held from 7.15pm to 9.45pm at Ewert House, Ewert Place, Summertown, Oxford. The Day Schools and the Summer School sessions will be held in Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford.

Michaelmas Term 2012
Thursday 27 September 2011 to Thursday 6 December 2012 inclusive, with the exception of 1 November (Reading Week).

Hilary Term 2013
Thursday 10 January 2013 to Thursday 14 March 2013 inclusive, with the exception of 7 February (Reading Week).

Trinity Term 2013
Thursday 11 April 2013 to Thursday 13 June 2013 inclusive, with the exception of 16 May (Reading Week).

Day Schools
Sunday 11 November 2012
Sunday 24 March 2013
Sunday 12 May 2013

Summer School
Saturday 15 June - Friday 21 June 2013

Examination
The three-hour examination will be held in late June 2013.

Certification

The Academic Qualification

Students who successfully complete this two-year course will be awarded the Oxford University Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing. The course carries with it 120 CATS points at second-year undergraduate level (FHEQ Level 5) in the Department’s Qualifications and Credit Framework. These credit points are widely recognised in terms of credit for transfer to other Higher Education institutions, including the Open University. Opportunities vary for the transfer of credit, so students who are considering taking this course for this reason are advised to discuss the possibilities with the Department’s Registry on 01865 280355.

Assessment methods

Assessment
Assessment is mainly by coursework, though there will also be a three-hour examination at the end of each year. Two pieces of writing are submitted each term, each usually tied to that term’s seminar activities. A more extended portfolio of work, reflecting your particular interests, is submitted for evaluation at the end of each year. The twice-termly coursework submissions will be expected to be about 2,000 words in prose, or about 100 lines in the case of poetry. The end-of-year submissions should be around twice this length. Please bear in mind that you are likely to have to devote a considerable amount of time to your writing outside the framework of the timetabled sessions.

The examinations, which centre on the Reading for Writers element of the course, represent only 20% of the assessed work. If you have not recently been involved in assessment of this kind, do not regard it as a barrier. Tutors and other specialist staff will be happy to offer advice and guidance at any time during the course. You will be required to attend at least 75% of the total number of seminar hours. Attendance is expected at all six day schools and at the summer school.

Teaching methods

Student Support

Much of the academic support will come from the Course Director, who may be contacted at any time during office hours by students wishing to discuss matters relating to the course. In addition, the Department runs a programme of Study Skills workshops designed to enable you to develop and improve the skills needed for effective study. These workshops are free to students enrolled on the Foundation course. For full details of the programme please contact 01865 280892.

Contact Information

Course Director

If you would like an informal discussion on academic matters before making your application you may contact the following:

Dr John Ballam 01865 280898 john.ballam@conted.ox.ac.uk

Award Programme Office 01865 280154 / 270369
For queries on applications and admissions ppaward@conted.ox.ac.uk

Student Advice 01865 280355
For general guidance and advice, credit transfer, special needs provision, residential category and sources of funding: registry@conted.ox.ac.uk

Study Skills 01865 280892
For information about Study Skills courses: studyskills@conted.ox.ac.uk

Day & Weekend School Office 01865 270368 / 270380
For information on day schools and weekend courses: dayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk

OUDCE Reception 01865 270360
For general enquiries about OUDCE or to leave messages if other staff are not available.

Libraries

Libraries and computing facilities

Once you are registered on the Diploma you are eligible to apply for an Oxford University card, valid for one year at a time, which acts as a library card for the Departmental Library at Rewley House and provides access to the unrivalled facilities of the Bodleian Library and Oxford University Library Services system, including the English Faculty Library. Diploma students are encouraged to make full use of the Rewley House Library for reference and private study and to borrow books. The library is comfortable and welcoming and contains books on the subject of creative writing itself, as well as a wide range of novels, poetry and dramatic works. It is also well stocked with literary critical texts, and periodicals.

The University card also provides access to facilities at Oxford University Computing Service (OUCS), 13 Banbury Road, Oxford. Computing facilities are available to students in the Students’ Computing Facility in Rewley House and at Ewert House, both of which operate extended hours and a booking system.

Apply for this course